Bye Bye North Island

North Island Top 5

1. Blue Lake (near Rotorua)


2. White Island


3. Drive around Tongariro National Park


4. Wellington - Pickton Ferry


5. Kiwi

Tongariro National Park

After surviving the cold night we realised we didn’t have the right gear to take the ski chair lift up to the top of snow covered Mount Ruapehu and so decided to continue our drive towards the southern tip of the North Island. The drive out of Tongaririo National Park had great views of the snow capped Mount Ruaphu, through beautiful rolling green hills dotted with sheep and cows.

Mount Ruapehu

I think this is Mount Tangariro

The small towns along the way seem to be competing for all things “giant” like the giant gumboot in Taihape (“Taihape....halfway to everywhere” – does that mean it’s in the middle of nowhere?) and the giant cookie plane, which was actually a life sized propeller plane painted all over with choc chip cookies. We also passed some interesting sights like the billboard saying ‘Peach teats – calves love ‘em”

Taihape giant gumboot

We stopped at a beachside resort about 30 min north of Wellington and decided to bring our ferry crossing over to the south island forward a day, so we sail tomorrow.

Warwick having fun at the caravan park

Hair update – Warwicks hair looks and feels normal, I've got the 80's wet look gel look going on.

Rotorua

Today we set out to discover Rotorua, known for its geothermal activity and sulphur smell (yes Warwick did ask me if I’d farted when we drove into Rotorua, but it was only Rotorua). We went to the Whakarewarewa (pronounced Fakare-ware-wa) geothermal village advertised as New Zealand’s Mauri Cultural Centre, our main interest was to see the native Mauri carving and see some kiwi’s. We should have known better when the Japanese tourist buses arrived at the front while we were paying $50 each for tickets. It was interesting to hear about the Mauri history and culture; they were originally from Polanesia and arrived in NZ in 150 AD, and to learn the meaning behind the Mauri carving. The Mauri show reminded us of a school production of a Gilbert and Sullivan musical and involved getting members of the audience with little or no co-ordination to join in. The kiwi house was the highlight for me even though there were only 2 kiwi to look at and we were inundated by more Japanese tourists. The thermal areas were no were near as impressive as White Island and it had been made very safe for tourists.

The best of the Whakarewarewa thermal stuff

Whakarewarewa Thermal Pool

An X-ray image of a pregnant Kiwi bird before laying its egg - apparently they have the largest egg to animal ratio - it would be equivalent to a human giving birth to a 2 year old!

We decided we’d seen enough hot gas for the trip and decided to get the Fakare out of there and head further south. The drive took us past Lake Taupo, the largest in New Zealand, where we stopped for a break and found the toilet floor flooded with what looked and smelled like you don’t want to know what (fortunately we had agreed not to do #2’s in the campervan toilet). Once we stopped the blame game (Did you close the toilet valve after you finished?) we cleaned it up the best we could, closed the toilet valve and got back on the road. We ended up stopping for the night in the Tongariro National Park, where Mount Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu are located and was where many of the scenes for the Lord of the Rings were shot. We stayed at the Wakapapa Village (you know how to pronounce it) one of the ski villages in the park. While trying to park Moby at the caravan park I backed into a tree and broke one of the taillights, luckily we took out the extra insurance so no excess. It was freezing there, not as cold as Chicago in Feb but still pretty bloody cold. I slept in just about all the warm clothing I had and was still cold.

White Island

Today we took the boat to White Island, which is New Zealands most active volcano. During the 2 hr boat trip we learnt that the locals pronounce Whakatane as Fukatane (which kept Warwick amused for the boat trip there and back) and also stopped along the way to watch some dolphins swimming alongside the boat. As we got nearer to the island we were issued with a hard hat and gas mask before being loaded into the rubber dingy to get to the shore.

Now if you’re expecting flowing rivers of molten lava (as we might have been) then you’ll be disappointed but the volcano does have 10-12 tremors every day (no we didn’t feel one) and is known to throw out pyroclastic bombs ranging in the size from basketballs to VW Beetles (not sure how effective the hard hat would be). Our guides only recommendation if that was to happen was to run, not to the water as the boat will have moved behind the island but behind something big. The island is basically porous rock and sulphur gas bubbles through until it reaches the surface and jets out through large fumeroles into the atmosphere. Overall the tour was interesting and you get to walk all around the island, get up close to the largest sulphur fumeroles (hence the gas mask) and up to the edge of the most recently generated crater formed during the last eruption in 2000 (there have been several different craters over the life of the island). The crater is filled with sulphuric acid, pH 0.3, although in the past it has been as low as –pH 0.6 (who knew that pH went into the neg?).

Fumerole spewing out sulphur gas


Volcano crater filled with a milky looking sulphuric acid

Warwick sampling the fresh water on White Island

Our English tour guide had been in the position since Oct 2007 and while he knew the spiel well and I thought at the start, maybe he’s a geologist, an expert in volcanoes, but I realised this probably wasn’t the case after he mentioned that he could carbon date the rocky outcrops if he had the equipment and of course the scientific knowledge to do so. Yep lost all credibility with that comment and more. White Island was mined in the 1800-1900’s for sulphur for fertiliser and some of the equipment is still present on the island although its rusting away. In 1917 there was an eruption at night that pushed the mining camp into the ocean – the only survivor was Peter the cat who survived for 3 weeks before being rescued. Mining was shut down on the island in 1934 as the yield was crap (only 40%, they were aiming for 90%).

Rusted out mining equipment on White Island

After arriving back on dry land we got back in the van and headed to Rotorua. This time we scoped out a few caravan parks until we came across one located on Lake Tikitapu, about 6 km out of Rotorua. The lake is surrounded on all sides by steep hills and was perfect for a quick dip to cool down after a long day.

Lake Tikitapu

Warwick setting up camp at Lake Tikitapu

Hair update – one week down, 5 to go. Hair seems to have life of its own, no complains on smell yet.

Moby the White Whale

After a day in Auckland we picked up the van (Warwick named it Moby, after the white whale) and headed towards the Bay of Plenty to our first stop, Whakatane.


The drive was pretty uneventful and the scenery was pretty unexciting so we were glad to finally make it to Whakatane although the caravan park wasn’t much better (just grassy area with little to no shade).

Whakatane

Our first meal in Moby

Moby at night
Hair update - 5 days no washing (you will see lots of photos with hair in ponytail) and Warwick has decided to join me on my quest for naturally beautiful hair.

Auckland

Auckland - the largest city in New Zealand (not much else to say about it, just another city)

NZ Challenge

Warwick and I driving around NZ in a campervan for 3 weeks, sounds like fun? We'll see. We've got a challenging journey ahead, approx 2,500 km across both islands from Auckland in the North to Queenstown in the South. Warwicks only requirements, Rotorua, Fox glacier and bungy jumping; me, everything! I've set myself an additional challenge, not to wash my hair for the trip as apparently if you don't shampoo for 4-6 weeks it will magically return to its natural beauty. I first read about this in a magazine at a hair salon and thought it would be great to never have to wash your hair again. Further research confirmed that it is possible (source - Internet and Wokka) although there are reports that it dosen't work well for fine hair, which is of course is what I have. Warwick's not too keen on this idea though and will be carrying emergency supplies of shampoo and conditioner, just in case. But I am determined to reach my full potential in the natural beauty stakes, you've got to make the most of whatever little you have, right?

Balloons

With the weather fining up the hot air balloon rides over the city have started up again. They often travel over our place and most Saturday mornings I can hear them as they release more helium gas. This morning they were pretty low but still no one waved to me.

Foo and the egg carton

Nice day for a ride

Bonnie and I decided to take a ride down Beach Road to our Mum's place in Chelsea. We weren't the only ones who thought it was a good idea as we were overtaken by loads of other, very professional looking riders along the way. I picked up a few of the peleton hand signals which I'll have to try out during our rides to work. The 70 km round trip was great though and the beaches around Chelsea were beautiful even if the water is still a little cold at this time of the year.

How many PhDs does it take to hang a carpet?

Finally managed to drag Warwick out to his favourite place (not), Bunnings, to get the stuff to hang the Turkish carpet. Warwick was in charge of the power tools while I was responsible for making sure it was hung straight in line with the ceiling. However these things never go as planned as there was one thing neither of us had thought about.

After marking where the hooks should go according to my expert eye, drilling in the rubber wall hook thingys, screwing the hooks into the rubber thingys and threading the carpet on we both took a step back to take in our handywork. Initially I copped the blame "I thought you said it was straight!" but it turned out one side was longer the other which of course was still my fault as I'd bought the carpet in the first place. After some skillful use of safety pins and strategic placement of the upper fringe we managed to get it looking a little better.